


The Maiden and the Selkie

by DilynAliceBlake



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fairy, M/M, Selkie - Freeform, Songfic, fae, it was bound to happen eventually, mermaid, seal - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:34:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 3,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26369575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DilynAliceBlake/pseuds/DilynAliceBlake
Summary: There's a song, sung by Heather Dale.  I couldn't help myself.
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Comments: 16
Kudos: 16





	1. Once a fair and handsome Seal Lord Lay his foot upon the sand

Standing on two legs felt wrong. It was precarious and unbalanced, with no water to lean against, as if the air itself was encouraging his fall. There was no dignity in the way he flapped his arms to stay standing, those first wobbly steps, but when he thinks of the Roman’s forlorn expression, Remus knows it will be worth it. His visage is that of his love, the only human he’s ever studied well enough to copy the face of, but the curling whiskers are his own, a holdover from his seal form. They twitch in the chill of early evening, and Remus makes his way to the seaside hut.


	2. For to woo the Fisher's daughter And to claim her marriage hand

A fisherman descended from fishermen, Roman was never happy with his lot in life. 

He laments his woe to the indifferent seafoam, bemoaning to uncaring waves the loneliness he carries inside him.

“If I were a prince,” he says, “If I were an actor…” On and on he goes about the lives he would rather lead, but by moonlight he whispers that in truth he could never leave the seaside. The salt and shells have long been his companions, and Roman holds a terrible fondness for even the little crabs and corals. As much as he wants more, a life beyond the shore and his little boat, Roman is chained to the ocean by his own melancholy heart. Still, loneliness creeps in ever closer. No human understands the siren’s song of lapping water and cresting waves.


	3. I have come in from the ocean I have come in from the sea

Roman often reeks of fish, an inevitable side effect of his profession, but the man at his door half past sundown smells of brine and clam so strongly that it takes Roman a moment to realize he’s looking at his doppleganger.

A twitch of the man's curled mustache and clumsy head tilt, water dripping onto the doormat from tumbling curls of oddly silver streaked hair, sparks recognition in Roman.

“Remus?” he asks, only half shocked at the seal in human guise before him. Stories of fae folk are taken seriously, and for good reason. There is no other this could be- But why is he on land?


	4. And I'll not go to the waves, love Lest ye come along with me.

“You’re not happy,” Remus harrumphs, voice a strange echo of it's usual bark, and after all the time Roman has spent confiding such, he can hardly claim otherwise.

“This,” he gestures to the hut, “Land,” he clarifies derisively, “Is wrong for you. Come be with me. Leave the air, and breathe the water. I don’t like to see you unhappy. Let me make you happy; I know I could. I _love_ you.”


	5. Lord, long have I loved you As a Selkie on the foam

Remus is his best friend, his most cherished confidant, and someone Roman knows understands him down to his soul. They are as alike as they are different, and in this moment, Roman is overwhelmed by how easily he returns the sentiment. Here is the creature who tries every day to make him laugh and brighten his spirits. Remus has brought him shells and interesting bits from the ocean floor. He once brought Roman a clumsily crafted necklace of seaweed and oyster pearls. Roman cannot count the hours Remus has spent alongside his humble boat, chasing fish into the nets and splashing water onto him playfully.

What they share is true and pure, no matter what form Remus takes, but-


	6. I would gladly go and wed ye And be lady of your home

Roman thinks of it. He longs for it. To see the world from beneath the waves, to spend his days learning what Remus’ life is like, taught by him. To swim with him and not be called back to the miserable shore by responsibilities or the pruning of his skin. But it’s a fantasy. He craves it, and Remus can see clearly in his face how much Roman wants to be swayed, **_but_** -


	7. But I cannot go into the ocean I cannot go into the sea

“I can’t-” Roman says, and from the devastation on Remus’ face the shapeshifter does not understand from where the reluctance stems. “I can’t go with you.”

“You  _ want  _ to!” Remus argues vehemently. “You hate your responsibilities, you love the ocean! Think of how happy you are when we swim together! Don’t pretend you don’t want that! Don’t act like you don’t want,” Remus’ voice breaks on the last word, whisper soft and desperate, “ _me_.”


	8. I would drown beneath the waves, love If I went along with thee.

“Remus,” Roman begs, the name he gave him when they were both so much younger, and only human moniker the selkie has ever known, “Remus I wish that I could, love. I’m not like you. I would drown. Trying to breathe water would  _ kill me _ .”

There is heartbreak in the admission, and Roman sees it echoed for an instant on his mirror-faced love before determination replaces it. The resolve Remus shows makes Roman's heart skip a beat. To not be given up on is a heady feeling.


	9. Lady, long have I loved you I would have you for my wife

“Since you hit me, skipping rocks,” Remus starts, gesturing to the faint scar on his cheek, “and checked on me every day while I healed. Since you asked me if I could understand you and devised a way for me to respond back. Since the first time you reached into the water to pet my coat to soothe me. From these moments I have loved you, and with each one more. You are everything I want in a mate.

"If you want me too, then together we’ll be. On land, if not in sea.”


	10. I will stay upon your shoreland Though it robs me of my life

Roman feels joy suffuse him down to his bones. Even if the land does make him miserable, the lack of belonging he feels will be nothing in the face of a happy future with Remus. They may not belong on dry earth, but they belong  _ together _ .

“No matter the cost,” Remus says with quiet determination, and a chill runs down the fisherman's spine.

“Cost?”


	11. I will stay one night beside you Never go back to the sea

“For you,” Remus confides, touching Roman gently with unfamiliar fingers, “I would forsake my home. One night with you is worth more than a thousand days beneath the waves. The joy of the sea doesn’t compare to the joy of your smile, of being able to share an entire conversation with you, love.

“One night?” Roman queries, wary, “I would rather a lifetime.”

He laughs at the attempted jest, but it is empty of humor in the face of his trepidation.


	12. I will stay and be thy husband Though it be the death of me.

The truth is a harsh and ugly thing. “Less than a night, in all likeliness,” Remus says, leaning into Roman so as not to see when miserable realization hits.

“No land bound selkie has ever made it even to sunrise. Our magic stems from the ocean, and without it I cannot sustain myself, no matter my form."

Roman notices, suddenly, the way Remus is trembling as he leans against him. It is not just because he is unused to legs that standing so long has Remus shaking.


	13. Lord, I cannot go and wed thee All to watch my lover die

“Remus, no! You think that I could let you- That I could watch you- No!”

Roman rejects the idea completely, because one night with Remus might be worth the rest of his own life, but nothing is worth Remus signing away his. 

“I would not become closer to you, only to lose you by morning! I couldn’t bear to lose you, not for any price. Not ever, Remus.”

He pulls them both into the rickety chair by the fireplace, Remus snuggled into his lap as he shivers. Warming him does not alleviate the trembling as much as Roman had hoped, and half of him wants to rush Remus back to the sea. 

The other half has only just got him, just understood how much he truly cares, and to go back to their one sided conversations and forced distance is a thought Roman finds heart-wrenching.


	14. Since I'll not be left a widow I have a plan for us to try

Roman knows every minute they spend cuddled together with his hand in Remus’ hair is a minute closer to too late. Still, for far longer than is advisable they sit together in near silence, absorbed in each other.

“Remus, that’s not an option,” Roman says, barely louder than the murmur of the wind and crackle of dying flame. He tightens his hold as Remus tenses to argue. “But those  _ can’t  _ be our only choices. There must be an answer here we aren’t seeing, and if we can’t find it, then we should talk to someone who can.”

“Oh, are you hiding a fairy godmother under your bed?” Remus grumbles, but some chance is better than no chance. 


	15. Let us speak with my grandmother Who has ever dwelt beside the sea

“I know a marine biologist,” Roman starts, to be met with skepticism from Remus.

“A marine biologist? Ocean scientists don’t even know that my species  _ exists _ , and you want to ask a marine biologist?”

“Think of him more as a trivia expert with a broad specialization.”

“That’s not exactly heartening, Ro.”

“You say that because you haven’t met him. If anything about Logan inspires confidence, it's his knowledge base."


	16. She may know some trick or treasure That I may wed my fair Selkie.

“Logan knows everything there is to know about the ocean- If there’s a solution he’ll find it.”

“You expect me to believe that a human knows more than me about my own home?”

“Maybe not what it’s like to live there, but everything else? If he weren’t so outlandish-”

Here Remus laughs at the unintended pun, the idea of someone who specializes in the  _ sea _ being out _ land _ ish. Roman raises his volume to continue. “If he weren’t so outlandish he’d be top of his field.”


	17. So they've gone to her grandmother's Little cottage by the sea

“How do we even know he’ll be at work this late?” Remus grumbles, but the indignation is as much to draw attention from the weakness of his voice as anything else.

“He practically lives in his office. And I mean that in the ‘He bought a pullout couch way.”

Remus gives Roman a look that means “I have no idea what that is but I’m not going to do myself the disfavor of asking, because humans are weird and I don’t care.”

Roman recognizes that look from their past, more one sided conversations. Remus has always made clear exactly how much he doesn’t give a fuck about most human things. The notable exception being Roman.


	18. To inquire how a maiden Can be wed to her Selkie

“This is my first time breaking and entering,” Roman says, taking bolt cutters to the fence links and wondering if a crowbar will be enough to break the building’s lock. Logan is too conscientious to have left the building unlocked after hours, of course.

“Not mine,” Remus admits gleefully, and Roman has to pause a moment to consider how exactly a seal would break and enter anywhere. He doesn’t dare doubt Remus’ claim. Mischief is practically his middle name.

“What are you doing?” Logan asks from two feet away, an inquisitive brow raised at Roman’s annoyed attempts.

“I- We- He- Could you just let us in? It’s a long story.”

“No it’s not,” Remus argues from where he’s leaned against a tree. “I turned human to come claim you, water kills you, air kills me. Now we’re at this weird nerdy wolverine’s research building so that neither of those things happens and I still get to keep you.”

“Thank you,” Roman snaps, blushing at the outlandishness of the story Remus has just presented, no matter how true. Logan blinks owlishly at Remus. Remus wriggles his whiskers-turned mustache in greeting.

“My shapeshifted form is a bear, not a wolverine,” Logan corrects, and opens the gate.


	19. For the Selkie's watery kingdom Would surely rob her of her breath

“That explains why you’re so interested in oceanic mythology. I’d be interested in fairy tales too if I had grown up  _ living  _ one.”

“You literally have a selkie as your newly taken fiancé and you’re still talking as if the stories I curate are fake, instead of meticulously researched.” Logan grumbles snidely, though the bite he usual holds for those who disdain his hobby is absent. 

Four books and three faded scrolls later, as well as one framed faded sheet of brittle seaweed someone managed to turn to paper, no answer has been found.

“There’s no way for a human to live in the ocean,” Logan says grimly, and pulls out two new books from the shelf. Approaching the problem from Remus’ angle may bear more fruit. 


	20. But to stay on land past midnight It would surely be his death

“An hour a night, taking tonight’s time spent on land into account, you might be able to spend a week together before he succumbed to death.”

Remus, who Roman had assumed was dozing while they searched, lets out a bitter chortle.

“That sounds about right,” he says. "Only so much poison a system can take, after all. It’d be worth it, though.” Hazy eyes turn their gaze to Roman as he struggles past the fog coming up to drag him down. “You know it would be worth it.”

Roman doesn't know any such thing.


	21. 'Lord, I know not how to aid you You may never live on shore

The books they’re pulling from the shelves now Logan barely skims the indexes of. Entire series get rejected, and Roman doesn’t doubt that Logan knows their content backwards and forwards. Well enough to know that they don’t hold a solution, for certain.

“We are running out of books,” Roman breaks the silence that before had only held the thump of book covers and shuffling of pages. It’s true. Even the filing cabinets have been rifled through.


	22. For your kind to live 'til dawning It has ne'er been seen before

“By all written accounts, there is no record of a selkie living to dawn on land.”

“Not even true love’s kiss?” Roman tries weakly, but gets only a fond chuckle from Remus and a sharp glare in reprimand from Logan.

“Don’t be ridiculous, that’s just a fairy tale, its theoretically boundless magical properties aren’t real. You can’t believe just any nonsense in random storybooks. No, we need something based on substantiated facts, or, barring that….Barring that, something backed up by a reliable source. Something like family tradition. Word of mouth. Legends that no one ever bothered to write down.” Logan chews his lip, deep in thought.

Dare they get their hopes up? 

Do they have any other choice _but_ to hope, at this point? 


	23. But my mother had a seal coat That she buried 'neath the tree

“I know something that could… Well, it’s better than nothing. There’s no guarantee that the story is completely true. The chances of the properties lining up with what you need are infinitesimal.”

Roman’s mouth is a grim line, and he holds an exhausted looking Remus close.

“I’ll die trying,” Roman says. 

“I couldn’t give you up, Ro. I haven't given up on us.” Remus assures with a cheeky grin. So they’re risking their lives on this chance. Neither pretends that if Remus dies Roman won't follow soon after.

“Beneath the Elder Oak, there’s supposedly buried a chest.” Logan pulls a key from a secret compartment on the underside of his computer desk.

“Supposedly?” Roman scoffs, “You keep a hidden key for a treasure chest that only  _ supposedly  _ exists?”

“I had no reason to check the veracity of the claim,” Logan snarks, “What with having no use for a _stolen seal coat_.”


	24. And she told me that its wearer Would become a fair Selkie

Remus’ head snaps towards Logan at that. To a selkie there is no worse crime than to steal the coat that lets them shift. Trapping them on land is a death sentence, and few who are trusted enough for a selkie to shed their coat would be so callous as to betray that trust with thievery and murder.

“You should have put it back in the water if you had any honor,” he hisses. Logan sneers.

“It’s a good thing that I never bothered, considering that this is the only chance you have." Morbid it may be, but Logan makes a fair point. "If a human dawns a sealcoat in the arms of the ocean, if they are judged worthy, then they can trade their human skin for that of a seal.”

“Judged worthy, what does that even mean?” Roman frets, but he’s already helping Remus back out of the building and into his little car. He lays him on the back seat, wrapped tightly in a blanket, and watches his shivers worsen. The time keeps getting later, and Roman prays that swinging by somewhere for a shovel won’t push them past their literal deadline.

Logan doesn't bother clarifying that such a transformation would be irreversible.


	25. So they've journeyed farther inland Though the Seal Lord's getting weak

“This is it, this has to be it,” Roman mutters frantically. He leans Remus against the tree’s great gnarled trunk and begins to dig at its roots on the side nearest the ocean. The moon is climbing in steady ascendance. 


	26. And she's shouldering the shovel To unearth the thing they seek

Shovel full after shovel full of dirt. Roman is sweating, and Remus is barely conscious, too weak to offer any help. It doesn’t matter. Just seeing him there gives Roman strength to break the hard earth. He would dig forever if he had to, but they don’t have that long.    



	27. At the rising of the fullmoon Underneath the elfen oak

Remus hums a little ditty, one of the shanties that Roman likes to sing while he’s out fishing. He recognizes it as the one he ends the day on before leaving back to shore. It’s his goodbye to Remus, and under most circumstances he would be touched that Remus bothered to learn it, but he won’t-

The shovel hits something solid.


	28. She has unearthed that faery treasure Of which her grandmother spoke

His hands shake so badly he can barely get the key into the lock. It’s rusted shut anyway. Roman takes the shovel to the crumbling chains, and barely sees them break through his tears of frustration. Within the chest is a rather ordinary looking animal pelt. It smells of dust and dirt, but Roman refuses to doubt its magic. If Remus can turn into a human and declare his love for Roman, offer to be his companion always like Roman didn’t even know he longed for, then the damned sealcoat can fucking work. 


	29. Just before the stroke of midnight They have made it back to sea

“Please, Remus, just a little longer, if anyone can defy the odds it’s you, we’re almost there! Stay with me, stay awake!”

Remus’ breathing is shallow as Roman lowers him into the foam. The water is only up to his knees but they are in the ocean dammit. Beneath the full moon Remus has folded back into the form Roman has always known him in. He watches with earnest eyes, and Roman has no doubt that if this fails Remus will demand to die in his arms. The moon is high overhead.


	30. And she has donned the magic seal coat And become a maid Selkie

He throws the sealcoat over his shoulders, and for a moment the world stands still on its axis. Then Roman is on his hands and knees, overwhelmed by nausea, dry heaving and fighting against the dizziness. When he collapses he’s sure that he’ll never have the energy to climb out of the water again. It’s just as well, he thinks, because on flippers he’s completely unable to stand.


	31. Now they've gone into the ocean Hand in hand into the sea

Remus rushes over, scooting with a ridiculous seal’s waddle and barking with joy. Roman doesn’t even find it peculiar that he now knows how to respond back to him, understanding transcending what he'd had even when they were both speaking as humans did to one another.

They splash joyfully around the beach, prancing and investigating Roman’s clumsy new form. Remus offers to teach him how to swim, and if he were human Roman would be grinning ear to ear. It worked. It worked, and he doesn’t even care how smug Logan would be about being proven right.


	32. She has gone along A fair seal bride for a Selkie

Together, they go into the depths of the chill water. They chase fish, and bother sailors, and generally make nuisances of themselves. Sometimes Roman will save human children from drowning. Sometimes Remus will drag them under playfully and do the seal equivalent of giggling at how they splutter. The ocean loves them, they love the ocean, and their days are happy.


End file.
